Passover 2024: seder & the hostages
2 min readApr 7, 2024
“See yourself in the Passover story” we are told.
Even in a lifetime of seders, we could not image this.
Bring the events of our times to your seder. Here are some resources.
Updates since this blog was first published on April 7 are italicized.
readings & songs (in my other blog posts)
- A simple reading for the hostages
- Passover 2024: Until all of us are free, none of us are free
- Passover 2024: more simple readings
- Passover 2024: U2 / In the name of love
(song & lyrics modified by the band for post-Oct 7)
readings & songs (by others)
- Prayer for the Return of the Captives,
(Rabbi David Lau, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel) - Sounds of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel)
- Bring Him Home (Les Miserables)
- Isaiah 61
ask a 5th question
- This year, ask a 5th question
- Or write your own
tell their stories & set a place at the table
Set a place at your seder table for a hostage.
- Set a place at the table, tie a blue ribbon on their chair, & use other symbolism from their lives to make your remembrance tangible.
- Say their name and tell their story.
- For individual profiles of hostages who are US Citizens, Siblings, Families, Muslims, and the Fallen, see BlueRibbons.LIFE.
call attention visibly to the hostages’ plight
Tie blue ribbons on your trees and fences to remember the hostages.
- Freedom is universalist idea, but can be taken for granted.
- Express your commitment for your neighbors to see.
Make a Passover social media post for friends to see.
- Use the hashtag #BringThem Home
- Useful graphics available at Board of Deputies of British Jews
haggadahs & supplements
- AJR, Seder Interrupted: A Post-October 7 Supplement
- CCAR, Prayers, Poems, Songs, and Meditations in Response to October 7
- JDC, A Special Reading for a Jewish World in Crisis
- Shalom Hartman Institute, In Every Generation (5784 supplement)
- Bayit, This Broken Matzah
- Hostages & Missing Families Forum, Haggadah (donation required)
- Kveller, 7 Ways to Address Oct 7 at Seder
- Exploring Judaism, Prayer for the Kidnapped
- ARZA, A Different Seder in a Post-October 7 World
learn
- Rabbi Leslie Gordon, The Importance of Fallen Hostages
- The National Library of Israel, Who Is the Empty Chair at the Passover Seder Intended for?
- CJP’s Marc Baker, 6 months since the hostages have been taken
- Commentary, Hostages and Why We Must Redeem Them: A History
- Sefaria, Redemption of Captives
donate
With thanks for contributions & ideas from Rabbi Leslie Gordon, Cantor Jamie Gloth, and Kali Foxman.
For my other Passover posts this year and from prior years, see my Passover blog.
